Published in 2022, Jeffrey Frank’s “The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man, 1945-1953” offers a detailed review of Truman’s presidency.  Frank has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker and is the author of “Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage.”

Harry Truman left office with the lowest approval rating of any president in modern times – with the sole exception of Richard Nixon. But the 1992 publication of David McCullough’s iconic biography of Truman ushered in an era of re-appraisal and subsequent biographers have widely accepted Truman’s “near greatness.”

But this book, with a 380-page narrative focused on the Truman presidency, is somewhat an outlier. While there seems little doubt this author is an admirer of the 33rd president, he observes Truman’s faults, flaws and foibles with unusual frankness.  And while Frank seems to view Truman’s overall performance as a success, he portrays his subject as a man of limited imagination and experience who nevertheless possessed the decency and determination to make it work.

Global events during Truman’s ninety-three-month presidency were unusually dynamic, providing much for historians and biographers to ponder.  And Frank’s narrative dutifully observes and reports these events, occasionally incorporating interesting analyses or conclusions relating to Truman’s actions.

But the key difference between “biography” and “history text” is that special literary glue which holds together a timeline, and its constituent facts, and provides insight not always evident to the casual observer. And while Frank provides a healthy dose of detail regarding events in Truman’s sphere, many readers will wish the narrative incorporated even more of the author’s own analysis.

Also largely missing is an ingredient critical to any biography’s vitality and verve- getting inside the subject’s head and seeing the world through his or her eyes. This is often accomplished by deeply exploring a subject’s family life and friendships and, in a comprehensive biography, by examining someone’s formative years. In this case, there is no emphasis on Truman’s personal relationships and the first six decades of his life are relegated to two-dozen pages in a “Prologue” which prove useful…but not sufficient.

Without a deeper exploration of Truman’s chronic difficulties in farming and business and, more critically, his political coming-of-age under the tutelage of Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast (which led to a decade of service in the US Senate) it is impossible to fully appreciate or understand Truman’s actions as president.

But despite the book’s inherent limitations, there are several bright spots in addition to Frank’s careful reporting and admirable objectivity. Among these are introductions to important but largely unfamiliar characters such as Robert Lovett and James Forrestal, an interesting introduction to J. Edgar Hoover, several pages revealing Truman’s thoughts relating to possible presidential successors and the author’s consideration of his evolving legacy.

Overall, however, Jeffrey Frank’s “The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man” undertakes an extraordinarily difficult mission: to understand the Truman presidency without fully understanding Truman “the man.” History buffs and presidential aficionados will find much to ponder in what is an accessible, modest-sized book.  But readers in search of judicious history and a great biography may wish to look elsewhere.

Overall Rating: 3¼ stars